Eleanor Roosevelt

Perhaps because of the politics ambition, Franklin D. Roosevelt began to court Theodore Roosevelt 's favorite niece, and his own distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt. Franklin D. Roosevelt had known Eleanor Roosevelt since childhood and had always admired her interest in serious issues and her high ideals. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt was born of America's elite. But she never felt elite. Below are facts about Eleanor Roosevelt and how she and Franklin D. Roosevelt were married as well as her personality traits.

Biography Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt attended all the right schools but she never developed the right interests - like partying and debutante balls. Eleanor Roosevelt was more of a shy wallflower than a coquettish belle. People found Eleanor Roosevelt homely, including her own pretty mother who dubbed her with the nickname `granny.'  Her father loved her, but he was an alcoholic and died young. Eleanor Roosevelt never seemed to fit in the class of society to which she'd been born.

Franklin Roosevelt romancing Eleanor Roosevelt

Roosevelt's mother was strongly opposed to his interest in Eleanor Roosevelt; it's possible she would have opposed his serious interest in any woman. She even took Franklin Roosevelt on a Caribbean cruise in hopes he'd forget Eleanor Roosevelt, a plan that failed. Although the two became engaged in his senior year, at his mother's insistence, the marriage was delayed until Franklin Roosevelt was past 23 and the bride was 21.

Franklin Roosevelt engaged to Eleanor Roosevelt

The engagement of Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt was considered incredible. Franklin D. Roosevelt was handsome and playful, Eleanor Roosevelt was plain and insecure; a volunteer inspector of women's lavatories in garment factories.

But later, it would be Eleanor Roosevelt who nursed Franklin Roosevelt through his polio, and helped instill him with courage and optimism. And it would be Eleanor Roosevelt who became one of the most dynamic and admired First Ladies in history - a great leader in her own right.

When did Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt marry?

When Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt married in 1923, President Theodore Roosevelt came up from Washington to give his niece and godchild away. At the time, Franklin Roosevelt was studying law at Columbia University. The newlyweds settled into Hyde Park, where their first two children were born. It would be a few years before Eleanor Roosevelt could have her own house and get out from the watchful eye of Franklin's mother. Even then, Sara Roosevelt bought and decorated the house herself, which disappointed Eleanor Roosevelt deeply. Eleanor Roosevelt  kept quiet, as she did throughout her marriage, rather than cause tension with her mother-in-law.